Wow, I have never been to the CNM STEMulus Center and now I am at four trips in less than a week. This time I went with my son for the Hour of Code event. It was a packed house of kids of all ages, which was great to see. I was surprised at how excited it made my son. He has always been somewhat interested in programming and I have done some online courses with him before, but it didn’t really keep his interest. I guess that is the difference between using Python to parse a webpage and using JavaScript to program a game. The games are just more fun. His thoughts afterward made my day:
I will never look at games the same way. Every time I click or perform an action I am going to think about how many lines of code it took to make it happen.
He has been unwavering in his dedication to being a science major and becoming an astronaut, but he said it might be interesting to be a programmer. This is the first time I have ever even heard him consider something different.
The kids had fun, but one major thing came up in discussion:
What resources are available for a teenager to learn programming in Albuquerque?
If they don’t have a class available at school (which most don’t), they are forced to learn it on their own. There are a numerous high quality online resources to learn programming, but it isn’t the same as a class or working with others. Hour of Code did a good job of getting them interested, but what is the next step for an interested student? Private tutors, online learning or technical parents; that isn’t exactly opening up programming to everyone. Are there any clubs, programs, classes in other cities we could copy? Or any resources here I am missing?
All I can think is that the kids are smart enough to see when adults don’t mean what they say. We can preach that every student should learn to program, but if we don’t require it in school or provide a way to teach it to them, will they believe us? And more importantly do we really mean it?